Bookstore And More’S New Owners Plan Expansion

Payson is home to many unsuspecting shops and stores that are sometimes so tucked away into shopping centers and behind mega stores that you never know they are there. Bookstore and More is one of those shops.

Situated behind the Knotty Pine Café and in a row of miscellaneous shops of this and that, the only way to detect this gem of a bookstore is from a large flag waving out front.

The bookstore’s new owners, Tina-Marie and Bill Dearhamer, say they have big plans to one day expand the store, at 1001 S. Beeline Highway, Suite F, into an adjacent space, turning the now bookstore into much more, including a tea room and gift center.

“When you walk up, there will be a sign pointing this way to the ‘bookstore’ and another pointing this way to ‘more,’” Tina-Marie said.

But for now, those plans are on hold. The Dearhamers took over ownership of the bookstore in May and are still making the shop their own.

The independent bookstore sells all types of new and used books, from fiction, non-fiction, romance, metaphysics, Christianity, philosophy and eastern philosophy.

“We carry a variety of books for everyone,” she said. “I want a place where any type of religion is welcome, where any type of person can come and be themselves.”

Besides selling books, the more part of the shop includes Avon products, See’s Candies, homeopathic products, ionic foot baths, programs designed by Tina-Marie for fibromyalgia and menopause and massage therapy.

Tina-Maria says the bookstore has something to sate any interest, from a book lover to a gift giver.

While the bookstore opened six years ago under a former owner, Tina-Marie said she wanted to add affordable pain management available to everyone and “not just the heavily insured or well-to-do. We all deserve a better life.”

The Bookstore and More is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.